Sunday, July 1, 2012

Salvation history, mystically signified in the Sunday Gospel

13th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 5:21-43

One
of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing Jesus he fell at
his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point
of death.” […] There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that
she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.

In today’s Gospel, we read of
two figures: A woman and a young girl. The woman has suffered from hemorrhages
for twelve years; the child was only twelve years old when she died. Our Savior
heals the former, and raises the latter.

While many modern(ist) biblical
scholars have all sorts of theories as to why these two miracles are
intertwined, the Church Fathers see in these two women (rather, a woman and a
little girl) a metaphor for salvation history. These two are figures for the
manner in which the Jews and the Gentiles have been called to salvation in
Christ.

The
Literal Sense – Historical summary

A brief summary of the two
miracles will help us to understand the details of the spiritual interpretation
given by the Church Fathers.

First, the synagogue official,
Jairus, comes to Jesus asking for him to come and lay hands upon his young
daughter who is sick to the point of death. So Jesus begins to go with him.

However, there is a large crowd
following around our Savior and, in the midst of this crowd, there is a woman
who has been afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She comes up to him
from behind and touches the hem of his garment (probably the tassel of his
prayer shall). Immediately, she is healed; and Jesus instructs her.

At this moment, people arrive
from the house of Jairus to announce that the little girl has died – but our
Lord goes on, ignoring their ridicules. Entering the house (taking only Peter,
James, and John, together with the girl’s parents), our Lord takes her by the
hand and says, “Talitha koum” –
“Little girl, get up.” Immediately, the girl wakes from the sleep of death and
all are amazed; but Jesus tells them to give her something to eat.

A
Spiritual Sense – The history of salvation

Many of the Church Fathers
recognize in these two figures (the girl and the woman) the two classes of men
who are called into the Church of Christ – the Jews and the Gentiles. So,
Rabanus, Jerome, and Bede. St. Thomas summarizes this in the Catena Aurea, on Matthew 9:18 and
following, and also Mark 5:21 and following.

From
the Catena Aurea

Rabanus:

“The ruler of the synagogue signifies Moses; he is named
Jairus, ‘illuminating,’ or, ‘that shall illuminate,’ because he received the
words of life to give to us, and by them enlightens all, being himself
enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The daughter of the ruler, that is, the
synagogue itself, being as it were in the twelfth year of its age, that is, in
the season of puberty, when it should have borne spiritual progeny to God, fell
into the sickness of error.

“While then the Word of God is hastening to this ruler's
daughter to make whole the sons of Israel, a holy Church is gathered from among
the Gentiles, which while it was perishing by inward corruption, received by
faith that healing that was prepared for others. It should be noted, that the
ruler’s daughter was twelve years old, and this woman had been twelve years
afflicted; thus she had begun to be diseased at the very time the other was
born, so in one and the same age the synagogue had its birth among the
Patriarchs, and the nations without began to be polluted with the pest of
idolatry. For the issue of blood may be taken in two ways, either for the
pollution of idolatry, or for obedience to the pleasures of flesh and blood.
Thus as long as the synagogue flourished, the Church languished; the falling
away of the first was made the salvation of the Gentiles.

“Also the Church draws nigh and touches the Lord, when it
approaches Him in faith. She believed, spoke her belief; and touched, for by
these three things, faith, word, and deed, all salvation is gained. She came
behind Him, as He spoke, If any one serve me, let him follow me; or because,
not having seen the Lord present in the flesh, when the sacraments of His
incarnation were fulfilled, she came at length to the grace of the knowledge of
Him. Thus also she touched the hem of His garment, because the Gentiles, though
they had not seen Christ in the flesh, received the tidings of His incarnation.
The garment of Christ is put for the mystery of His incarnation, wherewith His
Deity is clothed; the hem of His garment are the words that hang upon His
incarnation. She touches not the garment, but the hem thereof; because she saw
not the Lord in the flesh but received the word of the incarnation through the
Apostles.

“Blessed is he that touches but the uttermost part of the
word by faith. She is healed while the Lord is not in the city, but while the
Lord is yet on the way; as the Apostles cried, Because you judge yourselves
unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And from the time of the
Lord’s coming the Gentiles began to be healed.”

Pseudo-Jerome:

“Mystically, however, Jairus comes after the healing of the
woman, because when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then shall Israel
be saved.”

Or again, Bede:

“Mystically; the woman was cured of a bloody flux, and
immediately after the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue is reported to be
dead, because as soon as the Church of the Gentiles is washed from the stain of
vice, and called daughter by the merits of her faith, at once the synagogue is
broken up on account of its zealous treachery and envy; treachery, because it
did not choose to believe in Christ; envy, because it was vexed at the faith of
the Church. What the messengers told the ruler of the synagogue, Why trouble
you the Master anymore, is said by those in this day who, seeing the state of
the synagogue, deserted by God, believe that it cannot be restored, and
therefore think that we are not to pray that it should he restored. But if the
ruler of the synagogue, that is, the assembly of the teachers of the Law,
determine to believe, the synagogue also, which is subjected to them, will be
saved.

“Further, because the synagogue lost the joy of having
Christ to dwell in it, as its faithlessness deserved, it lies dead as it were,
amongst persons weeping and wailing. Again, our Lord raised the damsel by
taking hold of her hand, because the hands of the Jews, which are full of
blood, must first be cleansed, else the synagogue, which is dead, cannot rise
again. But in the woman with the bloody flux, and the raising of the damsel, is
shown the salvation of the human race, which was so ordered by the Lord, that
first some from Judea, then the fullness of the Gentiles, might come in, and so
all Israel might be saved. Again, the damsel was twelve years old, and the
woman had suffered for twelve years, because the sinning of unbelievers was
contemporary with the beginning of the faith of believers; wherefore it is
said, Abraham believed on God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”

2
comments:

Didn't have the time in my first post to thank you for your explanation of this passage. I have always loved the passage in St. Paul where he refers to the gathering in of the Jews after the completion of the conversion of the Gentiles. For me, the most important directive I take away from your teaching is to pray for the restoration of the synagogue and the salvation of the Jews.

In this PC world, as you know, this is not a popular concept, and so my hat's off to you, Father, you're a courageous man, and a good priest. But if you have time in a future post to elaborate on the concept of the restoration of the synagogue as opposed to the silly notion of some fundamentalist Protestants of the restoration of the physical temple in Jerusalem, which we as Catholics hold to be not in the plan of God the Father, since Our Risen Lord is the new Temple not made of human hands. Thank you and God bless you, Father.